Paracosm
by RWNH1400
Summary: At the stroke of midnight, Natsu and Lucy can enter a book called 'Fairy Tail' and go on adventures with the story's protagonists. They fight what the protags fight, learn what they learn, and grow as they grow. Friendships are to be formed and demons are to be fought. But entering a new reality can have a hefty price to pay, especially when you begin to lose sight of your own.


**A/N: Hey guys! I've finally got this story down after 4 months of Writer's Block and let me tell you, it feels b-e-a-utiful. I can't really say it's the best thing ever, but hey, at least I'm writing again! I'm really excited to see where this fic takes me because I have so many ideas for it. I'm sorry the first chapter is so short - I'll make the next one a bit longer. I just need to finish plotting the entire thing.**

 **Till then, hope you enjoy the first chapter! Do let me know what you think about it, I'd love some feedback from you guys ^_^**

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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of absolutely no fortune must be in want of a job. Desperately. Even if getting the job means sacrificing quality time with the friends he no longer sees, ever, along with every night of fun he might have in the foreseeable future.

Bitter as the coffee he'd been fueling himself with the past fifteen minutes, Natsu dragged himself around the bookstore he worked in, returning books to the right shelves, as he mentally counted the minutes till he could leave. _Ten minutes_. A few book spinners away, his co-worker, Lucy, was sweeping the floor clean of litter. They'd wordlessly been working in tandem since the store closed, putting it back together after a flood of particularly hellish customers had torn it apart earlier in the day. The thrum of earnest raindrops hitting the pavement outside filled the silence in the room and, mixed with the smell of old books and caffeine, filled it with a tranquil atmosphere.

Working at the bookstore wasn't really that bad. He'd been employed for four weeks now, which to be completely honest, was three more than any of the other jobs he'd ever had till date. Natsu's was an evening to late night shift, which meant business was usually manageable, and Lucy was really pleasant to work with. She always smiled when they talked, and they took turns buying coffee from the café next door on long nights like this one. She could be loud at times, yes, but Natsu didn't mind. Hers was the kind of laughter that made _you_ feel better. He even wished sometimes that they could be friends outside work too. Having Lucy around made the job less of a drag, sometimes even made him eager to get to work. He just wasn't sure he enjoyed spending his weekend nights helping the elderly find old books, and cleaning after the morning and afternoon shift employees, when he could be out there living his life.

Why had he even applied for this job again? Oh, right. The whole no fortune thing.

Natsu glanced at his wrist watch. Seven more minutes, and he could leave. Maybe grab a slice of pizza on the way home, watch something on T.V. for a while, and give his poor, aching legs some rest. Seven more minutes till midnight, and he was free.

Seven more minutes, that was all. No, wait – he glanced at his watch again – make that six.

"That has got to be the fiftieth time you've checked your watch in the past five minutes," Lucy said, pulling Natsu out of his thoughts. "I can finish up here if you're tired…there's six more minutes to go after all, and we're almost done."

Natsu raised his eyebrow at his blonde co-worker. Peering around the room, he realized they _were_ almost done. The floor almost shined, that's how clean it was, and there were no more books thrown askew. Besides, she was smiling at him, which meant she wasn't annoyed. Which meant his poor, aching legs would most definitely take her up on that offer, and walk him out.

"Are you sure? It's raining outside. How are you going to get home?"

"Gajeel offered me a ride since he's visiting Levy tonight."

"I see. Are those two…ya know…"

"Not yet, but they're getting there. Painfully slowly, I might add, but getting there none the less."

Natsu chuckled as he pictured the tall, broody man with the short, sweet girl. Painfully slowly, based on what he'd seen of them, was an understatement. Gajeel owned the café next door. Levy usually drove Lucy home, as they were roommates, and stopped by his store whenever she could to have a friendly chat about, well, whatever it was they talked about. Theirs were conversations hushed and sporadic, but visible pleasant nonetheless.

A small pang hit his chest as he realized that kind of friendship was one more thing he was missing in his life.

He offered Lucy a small smile before disappearing behind the inventory to get his jacket and car keys. Another glance at his watch told him there were just four more minutes left to midnight. What was the point in abandoning your work early if you couldn't even leave before you usually did?

The bookstore's inventory was a small room filled with boxes of new, old and damaged books. A bunch of lockers stood at the back. Natsu quickly retrieved his car keys from his locker, and was about to throw on his jacket and leave, when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an unfamiliar book sitting right behind it.

The book was old and brown. Its spine looked weathered and the edges of its pages were folded in every which way. Many of them looked yellow, and seemed to be pressed into each other too. The cover was just plain, solid color, save the title, which was written in large, golden cursive. _Fairy Tail_ , it read. Natsu tilted his head curiously as he stared at the book in his locker. The bookstore didn't sell copies this old. He was sure he'd never seen it before, ever. So how'd it end up in his locker?

He glanced at his watch again. _One minute and thirty seconds to midnight._ So he wouldn't be leaving early after all. Sighing, he picked up the surprisingly heavy book, slammed his locker shut, and left the inventory.

"Lucy?" he called, more-or-less marching towards her. "I found this book in my locker. I think someone may have left it there by accident. Could you take a look at it?"

"Sure. I – oh, that's old. Are you sure that's ours?

"I don't think so, no, but I don't see how else it might have got into my locker. Maybe I put it there by accident earlier – I don't know. Does it look familiar to you?"

"Hmm, not really. I haven't seen a book this old since my mother took me to my grandma's place. I mean, look at it – it's practically _ancient_."

"Mhm." He slid the book into her hands, and tapped his feet impatiently as she stared at it. It'd been a long day, and all Natsu really wanted was to go home and decompress into his couch sofa. Well, his aunt's sofa, to be exact. The car was his aunt's too. But that was beside the point.

"Natsu, most of these pages are empty."

" _What?_ "

"Maybe it's someone's diary or something? Hum, wait, never mind. This makes no sense. How – wait a second, there _are_ words here. My bad. Let me read them to you."

"Luce, I really –"

Natsu never got to finish that sentence. All at once, several things happened at once.

Thunder rumbled loudly as Natsu's wristwatch finally struck twelve, temporarily deafening him in the bookstore. Lucy had already begun reading the passage she'd spotted in the book, but he couldn't hear her. Instead, he could only watch as her expression morphed into that of horror from confusion. She might have screamed his name, he wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. The second the last word escaped her, the air pressure around them began to increase, drastically. It felt like an elephant was stepping on his chest. What was going on? Natsu's heart began beating eccentrically fast. The room around him began spinning – fast – and a steady hum began ringing through his ears. The room was getting hotter by the second – he could feel beads of sweat drip down his forehead, and before he knew it, everything went black.

Grass. Wet grass. It smelt like wet grass and mud and…rain. Fresh rain. Wasn't there a word for this? She definitely remembered reading about it somewhere. It was a beautiful smell, the season's first rain on dry soil. The kind of smell that filled your lungs and your head and made you feel light headed, but in the good way. Lucy had many fond memories attached to the smell of rain, most having to do with her mother. Layla Heartfilia was just like the rain. Pleasant and gentle when she was calm, tempestuous when she was angry, soft when she was happy and terribly quiet when she was sad. And above all, graceful, no matter what she did. Just like a princess.

Layla Heartfilia, the queen of hearts.

Lucy let the smell of rain captivate her for a minute more, before finally opening her eyes. Bright, green grass all around her and a light gray sky greeted her, as did the figure of someone else, lying on the ground just like her, a few meters away. The person's arm, the one facing her, was bent at an odd angle, and parts of his t-shirt had torn away. She couldn't really see his face, but as the horror of the realization set, she realized she didn't really need to.

There was only one person she could think of with hair that pink.

Natsu.


End file.
